With the Maple Leafs nose-diving into the all-star break, there is absolute clarity on only two points.

One, James Reimer has demonstrated that he is the most qualified goalie the club has right now and deserves a chance to prove his value over an extended period.

Two, this notion that the Leafs will be looking to add talent by next month’s trade deadline for some kind of late-season playoff run is at best fanciful and at worst incomprehensible. This is a club, quite clearly, that needs to do what Ottawa has already declared it will do, and that is aggressively dump experience for futures in the hope that tomorrow will be a brighter day.

But while there might seem to be no argument on those two points, neither may be what happens. Reimer, who has a plane ticket to head home Wednesday night to Morweena, Man., if the Leafs don’t send him back to the AHL Marlies, was excellent Tuesday in a 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay but has no assurances he’ll still be a Leaf when the season resumes next week.

“I wish I knew,” he chuckled after a 29-save effort that included three breakaway stops on Marty St. Louis. “Whatever they choose, I’ll be good with it.”

Reimer has only played 429 minutes, but his 2.24 goals-against average and .933 save percentage are far superior to the numbers of either J.S. Giguere or Jonas Gustavsson, and he’s the only one of the three with a winning record. Clearly, the time has come for the Leafs to find out which of their young goalies has the stuff to be a starter next season, and if the answer is none, they might want to start piling up dollar bills to offer Ilya Bryzgalov in July.

The second issue, that of the Leafs’ plans for the trade deadline, is naturally linked to Reimer’s immediate future. The logical strategy now is to acknowledge reality and turn all of management’s attention towards making this a better hockey club next fall. While finding out which of their young netminders is truly ready is a necessity, moving experienced hands for draft picks and/or prospects by Feb. 28 must also be part of the plan.

This Leaf rebuild, while hardly encouraging at the moment, is still viable if GM Brian Burke opts to take a longer view, keeps his first-rounders for 2012 and ’13 and aims for making a definable impact by the 2013-14 season.

There will be a temptation, naturally, to look at Tuesday’s opponent, the Lightning, and imagine a quick turnaround similar to that which the Bolts have achieved is possible in Toronto. Tampa, after all, finished in 25th place last season, just six points ahead of the Leafs, but are now sitting third overall.

The difference is, however, that that Lightning had a base of talent in Steven Stamkos, St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier and Victor Hedman that the Leafs cannot match right now. GM Steve Yzerman has added helpful parts in Simon Gagne and Brett Clark, and earlier this month dealt for veteran netminder Dwayne Roloson.

In 10 games, Roloson has three shutouts, including Tuesday’s 26-save performance against the Leafs, who have lost six of their last seven games heading into the all-star break.

“I think for us, this is a really good time for the break,” said captain Dion Phaneuf, who played 30 minutes against the Bolts and 28:24 the night before against Carolina.

“We’ve got to be smart and use it. It’s a long, long season.”

The Leafs are holding their scouting meetings in Florida, which meant Burke was joined by fellow suits Dave Nonis, Dave Poulin and Claude Loiselle, along with the pro scouting staff.

They got an eyeful. The boys on the ice delivered as soggy a first period as could be imagined while falling behind 2-0, and Roloson stymied them the rest of the way.

Just as he had the previous night in Raleigh, Phaneuf started the evening off with a bang, this time by depositing Dana Tyrell into the Leaf bench on the first shift.

“I have to be a physical player,” said Phaneuf. “If I’m not doing that, I’m not going to be effective.”

For the last two nights, the captain has been a lone warrior on a team that has been far too easy to play against. The recent record doesn’t lie, and neither do the standings.

This year has now become about next year. Again.

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